Byzantines
The Byzantines '''have the power of Architecture. Suggestions and spoilers *Strengths: Extremely strong defensive capabilities, legendary Castle Age military *Weaknesses: No Imperial Era units or chivalric order units means that Imperial Era games are difficult to win. Unless wonders are included in the equation. Located at the centre of the old world, Byzantium carries over its old Roman heritage even as it inspires new influences while at the same time, receiving others. Because of its strategic location between Europe and the Middle East, Byzantium receives doubled taxation gains from all taxable activities. At the same time, its Roman knack for building on a grandiose scale also means that Byzantine towers and forts are among some of the most well-built among other factions, which when coupled with its abilities as an Orthodox nation, can make them nearly invulnerable in the Imperial Era. In the seas, Byzantium is queen, very much like the original Byzantium of old. Once a player reaches the Castle Age, they have the chance to stop using fire rafts, and start using their cheirosiphon vessels - naval units with mediocre range, but a fearsome flame attack that makes short work of other ships and units and buildings too close to the shore. The ability to build ships at a faster rate than others means that Byzantium will remain fairly powerful for a while, until the Imperial Era when other factions like the Asians, Venice, or Portugal obtain more destructive weapons to scourge the seas. Byzantium gets a powerful cavalry line, with increased hitpoints and armour stats, making them somewhat more useful when attacking other cavalry or rushing down infantry. Byzantine infantry are also not neglected, however: as with the cavalry, the infantry all have some added hitpoints and armour, making them sturdier and better at holding lines. This is especially so in Dark Age games, but over time, the Byzantine Army slowly becomes more hopelessly backward. Lastly, if all else should fail, the Byzantine player can rely on enhanced militia buildings and static defences - having access to the Divine Mandate technology like the Asians means that Byzantium has access to bastions, which are an upgrade of the Imperial-Era keep, as well as chapterhouses and magistracies, which replace peasants' communes and town watch guild buildings and cannot be taken over by the enemy if the city is taken, so they allow you to conduct a "poison-pill" strategy by producing militia (if resources are still sufficient) to harass your opponents, until they or the buildings are destroyed. This option might be a useful one as an enemy will then have to be wary how to proceed when attacking your cities. With units bearing highly defensive abilities, and a knack for harvesting benefits from trading and maritime expansion, Byzantium is thus a very flexible faction, suited for receiving enemy rushes. Boat and land wars can be easily broken off using your unique units, while enhanced late-game defences and added wealth from taxation mean that a Byzantine game will often revolve around defence. CtW guide Byzantium starts of with quite a number of possible enemies, but only two of them are at war with you: Sicily and the Saracens with their caliph in Iraq. Fortunately for you, these two factions don't seem to like one another and it's a matter of time before either one of them or the Papal States takes the other out, and you are also allied with the Armenians. Bear in mind however, that being closer to home the Saracens, who are only five regions away from you, could prove to be a deadlier enemy along with their ally the Turks. The Turks currently have assimilated Islamic Iran, and you can count on them having gathered resources to deal with you shortly. You cannot hope to have them as allies during the Castle Age should you choose to take on Jerusalem - as capturing Jerusalem could trigger a Jihad. You would have expected the Christians to help you in the struggle against the infidels and the traitorous Italians, but you would be wrong. Until the Crusades, expect other factions such as Venice and Hungary to pick away at your European empire. Strictly antisocial behaviour must therefore be a must on your behalf, and do not depend greatly on your Armenian vassals: should you lose many wars, Armenia will break away as an independent nation, and will happily ally itself with the German usurpers in Rome should they come a-knocking. There are several factions which might possibly be of worth as allies. Spain and France are rather distant, and equal contenders for the Italian peninsula. Play them off against one another, and you may stand to gain great rewards. To the distant north and east lie the barbarian Russians, Chinese and Mongols. Perhaps an alliance with either one of them may be of use, but as regards to a quick conquest it might be difficult — neither side is close enough to lend armies to allow for quick overruns of barbarian regions. Jerusalem is a fine area. It does not have much resources, but as the home of the Holy Selpuchre, it allows you to collect tribute from pilgrim trains. However, unless Sicily flags Jerusalem, any capture of Jerusalem is guaranteed to result in a holy war either between Muslims or Christians. Faction summary *Defensive civ that relies heavily on its superior fortifications and naval units. *Mix-&-Match — having fast-training mercenaries means that you will always have an answer to your opponent's threats. As mercenaries are only half as effective or so as their mainstream counterparts, balance is the key. Either it's lots of cheap archers and warriors, and powerful cavalry, or it's light cavalry and siege units with heavy infantry in the lead. *Castle Crush — The Byzantine game alternates between defence and offence: build up your Dark Age economy as well as you can, in order to support the many Castle Age units that the Byzantines are famed for. *The Smell of Victory — Although the Cheirosiphon is a very strong unit, it is still vulnerable to fire ships. Screen this unit with your own light ships at all costs. In fact, a Byzantine navy can be built merely around these ships and some light ships, like Dromodns and Barques alone, although it will prevail little against the heavier Portuguese and Venetian navies. However, these factions do not get into full swing until the Imperial Era... *Templo Mayor — As Venice receives added tax gains, tax research is vital for the health of the economy. *Poison-Pill strategy — in late Imperial games, you can train militia in your cities even as they get absorbed, making occupation of your cities a nasty prospect for any potential hostile takeovers. '''Settlements: '''Byzantium; Thessaloniki; Mystras; Monemvasia; Corinth; Famagosta; Smyrna; Limassol; Heraklion; Alexandria; Sofia; Thebes; Athens; Varna; Athens; Ohrid; Apollonia; Angora; Epidamnos; Piraeus; Patras; Megara; Santorini; Chios; Potidea; Chalcedonia; Kyrenia; Lindos; Ialysos; Samos; Melos; Paros; Demetrias; Mantinea; Kerkira; Nicosia; Durazzo; Belgrade; Paphos; Chalcis '''Leaders: '''Basil, Michael the Stammerer, Heraclius, Alexius Comnenus, Theodora, Justinian, Isaac of Cyprus, Constantine, Julian, John the Fair '''Best age(s): Dark and Castle History The Byzantine empire was formed from the Eastern Roman Empire, when the Roman emperor Constantine moved the seat of Roman rule from Rome to the ancient Greek city of Byzantium (which quickly became known as Constantinople, now known as Istanbul in present-day Turkey) , while the western part of the Roman Empire was completely overrun by Germanic barbarians. Separated from the rest of Europe, yet located at the very crossroads of both Europe, Africa and the Middle East, the Byzantines would continue to rule an empire, develop a unique culture of their own and remain a local power until Byzantium and the entire Greek peninsula were lost to Muslim invaders in the 15th century. Dark Ages of Rome In the 4th century, Emperor Constantine the Great (306–337), after seizing the title and position of Augustus of the Western Roman Empire, made Christianity a licit religion. This official toleration of the Christian religion (AD 313 Edict of Milan) was the turning point in the history of Christianity and of the development of the Empire. From the time of the death of Emperor Valerian (AD 260) the Empire had been ruled by a variety of men using a variety of systems. In AD 324, Constantine became the Emperor of the whole Roman Empire, ushering in the first lasting imperial dynasty in roughly 100 years. He called the Council of Nicaea in 325, the first Ecumenical Council of the Christian Church, starting a long tradition of Roman Emperors calling and endorsing Church councils. Through this endorsement of Christianity, Constantine ensured the importance of the religion for the remainer of the empire (Emperor Theodosius in AD 380 made Christianity the only imperial religion, making the link between the Roman Empire and the Church official). It was also at this time that the Empire became divided into the Eastern and Western Roman Empire and so five years later, Constantine, wishing to move his imperial capital away from the pagan past of Old Rome (and, of course, the barbarian incursions to the north) founded his new capital at the ancient Greek city of Byzantium, which he renamed Nova Roma. This new capital became known as Constantinopolis (Constantinople in English), that is to say, "the city of Constantine." This relocation, along with the focus on the newly endorsed religion of Christianity at Nicaea, cemented the importance of the eastern section of the Empire perminently. The western part of the empire would persist for roughly another century and a half, but it would never regain prominance again within the Empire itself. The west would be ruled by a line of titular emperors and military viceroys based in Milan. Later, the emperor Theodosius the Great (379–395) officially divided the Empire into two independant states, which inevitably lead to the downfall of the Western Empire from constant barbarian assault. By the beginning of the 6th century, with the capital and most of the land holdings of the Empire now in the Greek-speaking east, the formerly pagan Italo-Roman Empire became culturally and geographically a Christian Graeco-Roman Empire. This Hellenization caused later western historians to give the name "Byzantine" to the empire. Officially and popularly, however, the empire was Roman, with its inhabitants called Romans (or in Greek, "Romaioi"), until the collapse and eventual extinction of the Byzantines in 1461. Justinian dynasty Justinian I (527–565) pushed for the reconquest of territory lost during the Empire's disintegration in the west. The general Belisarius, under the orders of his emperor, managed to reincorporate much of the territory around the Mediterranean coast in North Africa, Italy and Spain. The conquests the Empire made under Justinian, however, drained much of the Empire's fortunes causing it to be ill-equipped to retain its territory under the threat of foreign invasion. This, in conjunction with the constant wars with Persia, set the empire up for failure in regard to repelling Slavic invasions in the the 6th century and Islamic Arab invasions in the 7th century. Between the death of Emperor Heraclius in 641 until the rise of the Macedonian Emperors in 867, the Byzantine Empire was reduced to barely more than Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey) and parts of the Italian peninsula. The other major accomplishments of Justinian were his institution of administrative and legal reforms that would become the cornerstone of jurisprudence in Europe and his reconstruction of the great church Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, which would remain the largest Christian church for a millenium. Macedonian dynasty In 867, the so-called Macedonian dynasty took the throne of the Byzantine Empire. They managed to again retake much of their lost territory and drove Muslim pirates from the Aegean sea, allowing Byzantine trade to resume unimpeded. This period saw a period of economic growth and a cultural renaissance. The Byzantines also began to spread Christianity to the Bulgarians, Serbs and then the Russians. After the Macedonian dynasty the Byzantines again began to decline. The Coming of the Turks and Manzikert From the East the Turks defeated the Byzantines at the Battle of Manzikert, a blow that saw almost the whole of the Byzantine military force wiped out in just a few weeks. The empire would hold out a little longer and even recover some power under the so-called Comnenian reforms, but the damage was done. From the west, European powers began to make incursions into Greece, culminating in the sack of Constantinople by the marauding armies of the 4th Crusade in 1204. Little by little, the Byzantine Empire was stripped away until only Constantinople held out. But the final blow came in 1453 when the Ottoman Turks under Mehmed the Conqueror, took the city and the title of "Caesar" after a lengthy siege. Once more, Constantinople would be the center of a great Mediterranean empire again, but this time renamed Istanbul when the Turks moved their capital from Konya in the east to the city. By now only Morea, a small state in southern Greece, remained in Byzantine hands but its fate was soon sealed. Ruled by members of the Palaeologoi, its despot David tried to incite the Catholics to launch a crusade but instead invited the wrath of the Turks, and so in 1461, the Turks marched into the Pelopennesus, effectively exterminating the Byzantine Empire once and for all. References *One Dead Angel, [http://ron.heavengames.com/gameinfo/nations/greek/greek.shtml Rise of Nations: Greeks — A Guide], 'Rise of Nations Heaven' Category:Multiple mercenaries Category:Factions Category:Spoiler Category:Orthodoxy Category:Multiple mercenaries